NASCAR will have two high-profile appeal hearings in the next week, and it needs to win both of them.

After the Hendrick Motorsports’ successful appeal last year on penalties related to the C-posts on Jimmie Johnson’s Daytona 500 car, NASCAR’s top competition officials Robin Pemberton and John Darby can’t afford to have the penalties they’ve issued recently significantly decreased.

Robin Pemberton, along with John Darby, are the NASCR officials who recently handed down stiff penalties against Penske Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing. (AP Photo

If NASCAR loses these appeals, Pemberton and Darby potentially could lose the faith of the public — and the garage — to administer rules fairly. That perception might not be fair, or accurate, but that will be the result.

JGR, which had one connecting rod too light in Matt Kenseth’s race-winning engine at Kansas, faces a similar suspension for crew chief Jason Ratcliff as well as the freezing of its owner points for six races and a 50-point penalty to Kenseth. It also can’t use the Kansas win to earn bonus points for the Chase or toward a Chase wild card.

These penalties are harsh, and both JGR and Penske say they’re unfair. Darby and Pemberton run the inspection process, and they have the responsibility to rule with a heavy but fair fist.

If Penske or JGR win their appeals, it appears that Darby and Pemberton are ruling with only a heavy fist.

Considering that NASCAR picks the appeals board and hires chief appellate officer John Middlebrook (whose salary is $1 annually; yes, that’s one dollar), it would seem that it wouldn’t pick people who would routinely rule against it.

So for NASCAR officials to lose an appeal, there has to be a good reason for it. There has to be a feeling among the appellate board or Middlebrook that someone has been done wrong.

If Darby and Pemberton lose these appeals, it will appear as if they are unreasonable — intentionally or unintentionally — in how they issue the penalties or treat teams.

Their work is based on their credibility as they make daily decisions that impact how the cars are built and how the inspection process is conducted.

There needs to be trust that they are capable of doing that well and in good faith.

That will be the point Penske makes with its appeal. It will argue that teams in the past have been given time to either make changes when found with unapproved parts or been allowed to work in a gray area with suspension parts. It will argue that the penalties are an unacceptable shift in NASCAR policy and that the pieces, for all intents and purposes, were approved.

Gibbs will just argue against the harshness of its penalties.

How successful will Penske and Gibbs be? It depends on how consistent NASCAR has been in its inspection process and how fair it has treated the violators.

Last year, RCR lost its appeal of six-week suspensions to its car chief and engineer for an illegal car frame at Michigan. Both the appeals panel and Middlebrook upheld those suspensions, which were consistent with past penalties.

The Penske and JGR situations are different and don’t necessarily have a clear precedence. The Penske penalties cover an area of the rulebook just added in the offseason. The JGR penalties are for what seems to be an unprecedented light piece in the engine.

That trust in NASCAR brass took a bit of beating last year, when Hendrick failed in its appeal to the three-member board but was victorious in the final appeal to Middlebrook, who reduced all the penalties except for a $100,000 fine to crew chief Chad Knaus.

Because Middlebrook did not give a detailed explanation for his ruling, it is unclear why NASCAR lost. It can only be assumed that the main reasons were that the C-posts had been inspected plenty of times before and typically at restrictor-plate tracks, teams can shave on parts and pieces to make them legal without them being confiscated. In other words, NASCAR changed the way it inspected and penalized teams to the point that it was unfair with Hendrick.

Losing the appeal to Hendrick last year was a bit of a hit to NASCAR’s credibility. But if NASCAR wins both of these appeals, Darby and Pemberton would regain any lost credibility.

It will show that they — and not an appeals board — are in charge again, and that the teams better respect their authority to run the series.

If they lose the appeal, it will be a sign that Pemberton and Darby will need to adjust how they rule the garage and how they deliver punishment in the future.